Naomi’s stomach fluttered with nerves as they approached the door. They’d kept watch on Valerie through the comms panel, spying on her the way she’d spied on them. She spent some time hitting the walls, at first, then did a lot of pacing. For the last few hours, it’d been a lot of sitting and staring at nothing. She was eating her food, drinking her water. No hunger strike. Conserving her strength.

Lebedeva had put her engineering skills to work creating a small handheld stunner that she held at the ready. Little more than a glorified cattle prod, really. Naomi fervently hoped they wouldn’t have to use it. Naomi held a water allotment and some toiletries, so Valerie could brush her teeth and give herself a sponge bath after they’d left. In Naomi’s pocket was a wrapped bundle of nutriblocks.

“What about you?” Lebedeva asked. “You could have asked Hart or Hixon to do this with me. No one would blame you for evading her.”

“Avoiding,” Naomi corrected, absently. She squared her shoulders. She didn’t need the others to protect her. She’d locked Valerie up—Naomi should face her prisoner. Still, she hesitated, staring at the seam of the white and silver doors. In that room, they’d all eaten their evening meals when they’d tired of the canteen, or on special occasions like the Fourth of July. They’d been surrounded by echoes of Earth or visions of Cavendish. They had laughed, teased. Been a crew.

The last time they’d gathered behind those doors, Valerie had told them what she’d truly done. Tried to make them see that her course was the correct action to take. She’d failed, but if Naomi knew anything, it was that Valerie would still be at her mind games.

She pressed the button, letting the doors whoosh open.

Valerie’s head rose. She had her hair over her face, and some stuck to the sweat of her forehead. The eyes were the same—bright and dark and furious. The muscles of her jaw jumped beneath her skin.

Lebedeva pointed her makeshift weapon at Valerie. “Don’t think about it. Get in the chair,” Lebedeva instructed.

Valerie did so, deliberately slowly, the restraints curling from the malleable material to trap her hands and feet.

Naomi set down the basin of water, toiletries, and nutriblocks, then backed away.

Valerie’s eyes raked over Naomi’s face, lingering on the healing scratches on her cheek. Naomi hadn’t expected to see some broken, battered woman, but she’d still hoped for something—a whisper of regret, acknowledgement of her sins.

“I can take it from here, Lebedeva, thank you,” Naomi said.

Lebedeva gave an incline of her head, passed her the weapon. “I will stay outside if you need me.”